Research Analysis Task 1 - Magazine Advert

Here is an album advert for Jessie J's album 'Who You Are'. The reason I have chosen to analyse this magazine advert is because Robbie Williams didn't have one. This advert doesn't specify that it is advertising Jessie J's digipak, however, it is advertising her album.

I also chose to analyse this poster because it has a bit more to it, in terms of colour, text and images.

The large image that takes up three quarters of the page shows the audience exactly who it is promoting as well as catching the audiences eye as it is very large and bold.

The 'Jessie J' text written in gold suggest that the album is is good, as gold represents something good and expensive. The colour and size of the text is also attention grabbing and easy to see.

The bottom quarter of the poster is the section that is a little bit more boring as it in just jet black with little bits of text on with the name of the album. There isn't much that can be done on this section in order to make it eye catching as if anything changed, it wouldn't look right, nor would it be clear as to what the text is as the patterns or other images would crowd over and take the attention off the big, bold picture which is suppose to be seen.

On this magazine advert, there is no date telling us when the album is being released.  This could be because is is an advert that has been released after the album is already out, however, I would still have put a date on it so people knew when it came out or when it comes out depending on when the advert was released.

Th image itself is a close up shot as it shows her full face and slightly shows the top half of her shoulders. This is a good shot to use as it means everything is focused on her, not the outfit or anything else.
The colouring has a theme throughout which is black which the hint of white which suggests that the artist is trying to put out a specific image which also links to the songs that are on her album.
The artist doesn't have a specific 'facial expression', like smiling or laughing. This artist has chosen to have her mouth open, suggesting that she wants to draw peoples attention to her face and maybe lips, which could have something to do with the colour of her lips.
We cannot see what the artists full costume is due to the shot that is given, however, we can see that she is dressed in black with a lace style costume on the top half of her body, We can also see that she has silver jewellery on which again, matches the black and white colour scheme. Lastly, we can see that her makeup is neutral and black, like the nails have been painted black, her lips are black and her eyes show a light black colouring around them.

Magazine ads are adverts that are out into a magazine to promote an artist and their new songs or album. They are used as another way of promoting, like adverts. Magazine ads are used as they are a good way of catching someones attention, for example, if you are reading a magazine, you go through all the pages, even if your flicking through, you would still notice it, however, a TV advert is a little bit different, you could take your eyes of the screen or switch channel to avoid adverts.
Magazine ads work for artists or bands as they are a large scale promotion technique that is big and bold and catches peoples attention. They market the artist by usually, displaying a large image of them on the advert, whether it covers the whole page or half a page, they are big enough for anyone to see and draw them to it to read whatever other information is on the page.

Research Analysis Task 1 - Digipak

 Above is a Prezi online presentation showing my analysis of a digipak. This digipak is from the same artist as I analysed the music video from.

Research Analysis Task 1 - Music Video

Above is my analysis on the Music Video Angels, by Robbie Williams. I chose to analyse this music video as I had a digipak for the the artist and this song was on the digipak and I like the artist so thought it would be a good idea to analyse it. I also like the black and white concept which I am looking at doing for my own music video.

Director Research Task

David Fincher

David Fincher directed Justin Timberlake's music video 'Suit & Tie'. I like how Fincher has directed this video in black and white. The black and white video makes it seem 'posh'. I also like the creativeness of the video, like how it starts in one place and follows as a journey to a stage of some kind and then to Justin himself playing the piano.

There are certain styles withing the video that I find are impressive and look good. I like how the editing starts of quite slow an then gets faster as the song becomes faster. I also like how when Justin is on the stage, the camera work changes from behind and then to the front and so on. The lighting looks good so when the camera is behind the artist, we can still see he is the artist and main focus of the video. This gives off a good affect to the audience.

The black and white video is a good way of making a video in my view as I think it gives a different image to what normal videos give off. The black and white is different from most music videos out there and it doesn't follow what other videos tend to have, like the girl and romance throughout it.

When I make my music video, I will be looking at what Fincher has done with his camera movements and camera angles as there are a variety in this specific video which are good that I could probably use too.

Jake Nava

Jake Nave is a British film and music video director who directed Beyonce's song, 'If I Were A Boy'. I like the way Nava has directed this video in a number of ways, ranging from the colour, lighting and background story.

I like how Nava had directed the video in black and white as I believe it makes the video and story powerful. I like how he displays Beyonce as the 'man' and the man as the 'women', as in the terms, a women can do exactly what a man can do.
Nava shows this video as a women being independent and strong and doing things, like a job that is typically looked at as a mans job.

I also like the camera shots that Nava has used throughout this video, such as the extreme close ups of the both faces. The extreme close ups show the audience the facial expressions and emotions of both the characters in the video which makes us feel connected.

 The editing matches the timing of the song and fits perfectly with every camera shot that is used.

Overall, I like how this video is presented and I like the background story of what Beyonce is trying to tell. When I come to make my music video, I will go back to this and see how everything fits together and how I can get my music video to be like this is the concept of background story and the power that comes from it.

Defining Audiences

At this current time, I haven't got a set idea of what Music Video I would like to create, however, I know that I want to have a target audience of the young, around the ages of 13-18 as this is an age gap I can do multiple things with.

 I would also like to aim my music video to those of the ABC1 which stands for the Upper Middle Class, Middle Class and the Lower Middle Class. The reason as to why I would like this target audience as I think it gives a range of things to what I can do.

Main-streamers are another audience I would like to aim my music video to as they make up 40% of the population who like security and belonging to a group. This audience is a very wide range and will allow me to have a large audience to aim at.

Within the Values, Attitudes and Lifestyle, I would like to aim my music video towards those who are Principle-orientated as they are guided by choice with an abstract idea rather than feelings or by approval from others. The Principle-orientated audience don't mind what the opinions from others are.

I would also like to aim my video at Fulfilleds who are people who mature, comfortable and reflective people. The next group I would like to aim the video at are Actualisers, which are people who are successful with what they do, sophisticated and active. These people have high self-esteem and seek to explore, develop and grow.

Analysis - Steve Archer

Steve Archer is a theorist who talked about 'Music Television 2 - How To Study'.

Archer said that there are five points to judge a music video and to tell whether is is good and works for the target audience or not.

The first point is: Thought Provoking Music. Thought provoking music is about closing your eyes and listening to the music and thinking about what you can hear and what images come into your head as you listen to it.

Archers second point was: Narrative and Performance. He says that songs rarely tell complete narratives and that we are used to studying them with other visual texts. Usually, if we detect a story in a music video, we suspect some sort of drama is going to unfold.

The third point is: Star Image. Archer says that only 1 in 10 acts that are put out by the music industry actually make any money. He says that Image is important as image makes money. Without a good image, artists or bands can struggle to make money as people aren't interested, even if their music is good.

Arches fourth point is: Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song. We can identify three ways in which music videos work to support or promote a song. These are Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture. These help generalise the effect of individual music videos.

Archers last point was: Technical Aspect of music videos. This is about analyising the video through camerawork, camera movements, camera angles, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. Camerawork allows us to see how professional and well constructed a video is. The camera movements and angles also help us see how well constructed the video is. Mise-en-scene allows us to see what the video is about and how well it works with location, lighting, props and costumes. Editing allows us to see how well the edits have been put together and whether they match or not and the sound allows us to see how thew lip synching matched the track.

Analysis - Peter Fraser

In the second half of today's lesson, we split into groups each read an article on either Peter Fraser and Steve Archer. We then summarised the articles.

Peter Fraser - Codes and Conventions
Camerawork
Fraser said that when music videos are made, close ups and extreme close ups are good to use as they focus and create a good image.
He also mentioned that lighting is important and it is best to have a good amount of light on the artist or band themselves otherwise they are camouflaged in with other extras and it doesn't bring the attention to them.
Fraser's last point was that camera work is really important when it comes to making a music video and says that the camera shots and angles make the video.

Editing
Edit's have to match the actions of the artist. For example, if the song is slightly on the slower side, the editing has to be slow and if the song is faster or builds up then the editing has to be faster otherwise nothing matches. Editing has to change with the artist or band and the actions that they do.

Star Image
Fraser said that in order to be in a music video, you have to look the part. Without the 'looks', some artists or bands struggle, as now, a lot of the music industry is based around how people look.
He says that looks make the videos look better and makes people want to watch the videos which means that it is more likely to spread and gain more views.

Voyeurism 
Voyeurism is about the level of performance that is given in videos. Performance in music videos make them interesting to a certain group of people. For example, Beyonce has a certain target audience within her 'performance' area. Boyonce put on a performance mostly aimed at men, whereas others put on a performance for women. Fraser said that performance in a video makes everything.

Intertextuality 
Fraser said that Intertextuality is about having references from other media areas such as films. Sometimes, in music videos there are certain moves or animation that has come from somewhere else, this is intertexuality. The reason as to why this sometimes happens is because it is aimed at a certain audience and other media references can sometimes help to build an audience.

Narrative and Performance 
Fraser said that Narrative is about a story. Having a video that tells a 'story' can make it interesting, however, he does not specifically mean tell a story the whole way through the video, in Fraser's context, he means, have something that tells a story without being boring.
He also says that performance is the most important thing when it comes to making a music video as without performance, the video can be very boring and people won't want to watch it.
Stage performance is something that Fraser mentions when it comes to standing in front of a camera and creating a music video.
Shot value is also important in the narrative and performance area as that alone, can make a performance. Narrative and Performance is all about the repeatability factor.